Alonso would also do well....but he insists on having a no.2 driver in the 2nd car, and as DC is no longer the No.2 Mac driver (as he clearly was in the Mika days) , and as he's also blotted his copy book there, it is somewhat less than likely.

Vettel or the BMW drivers could also do well, but I don't see much else on the grid (apart from Massa and Kimi) who would do any better than Ham + Heik.

Originally posted by Perigee I thnk you could do a lot worse than Lewis and Heikki tbh.

Alonso would also do well....but he insists on having a no.2 driver in the 2nd car, and as DC is no longer the No.2 Mac driver (as he clearly was in the Mika days) , and as he's also blotted his copy book there, it is somewhat less than likely.

Vettel or the BMW drivers could also do well, but I don't see much else on the grid (apart from Massa and Kimi) who would do any better than Ham + Heik.

Erm, Kubica!

(Next time, click on "I want this to be a poll"!)

I don't know, knowing that Alonso was no longer going to be in the team and judging by Lewis slow start to the season and last season's end, I am inclined to believe that a more experienced driver would have benefited them more. I don't know perhaps Webber/Button.. paired with Lewis/Vettel..

I'm happy with the line up. Any calls for a change are total 'knee jerk' reactions in reaction to one or two poor performances. Looking at the bigger picture I believe it's a strong line up with perhaps the biggest potential of any team on the grid.

Both Lewis and Heikki are excellent and fast drivers. The only objections to such a pairing, IMO, is the fact they have only one season of experience and in order to push the development of the car forward, I would rather have someone with 4-5 seasons under the belt. We'll see if during the progress of the season McLaren keeps its position right there with Ferrari or falls behind BMW.

Macca had a certain experienced driver in the team last season just to make him looking fool...They don't deserve a champion, cause they can't treat them properly. Now they are life sentenced to a champion like driver Lewis, which is bad for both Mc Laren and poor Lewis himself ...And Heiki? If he continue to develope his sleepy attitude, he can win a night race maybe.

Originally posted by BiEs Macca had a certain experienced driver in the team last season just to make him looking fool...They don't deserve a champion, cause they can't treat them properly. Now they are life sentenced to a champion like driver Lewis, which is bad for both Mc Laren and poor Lewis himself ...And Heiki? If he continue to develope his sleepy attitude, he can win a night race maybe.

At the moment I feel the results from yesterday do not reflect the true potential of the Mclaren car. IMO, a Kimi or Alonso would have battle for the win and certainly not finish outside the podium. Heikki had most of the fastest laps of the race - with that speed he should have been able to beat at least one of the BMW's. His defense to Nick was weak..

When I look at it, Ferrari, BMW, McLaren, RedBull, Toro Rosso and even Williams and Force India have an excellent and interesting driver pairing but Renault, Toyota, Honda and Super Aguri could do better.

Besides McLaren and BMW threads we should also have a thread about Ferrari needing better drivers. The car is clearly the fastest, but they are still not leading the WCC. In conclusion drivers must be truly awful!

Let's sack all those six useless drivers from top teams and hire better drivers instead of them!

Originally posted by sopa Besides McLaren and BMW threads we should also have a thread about Ferrari needing better drivers. The car is clearly the fastest, but they are still not leading the WCC. In conclusion drivers must be truly awful!

Besides McLaren and BMW threads we should also have a thread about Ferrari needing better drivers. The car is clearly the fastest, but they are still not leading the WCC. In conclusion drivers must be truly awful!

Imagine how bad McLaren's are for being behind Ferraris!!!!!!!!

OK, it has been established then , with your logic BMW is the 3rd best car but since it's leading the WCC, they must have the best drivers........

Reality is that in the last 4-5 races we have seen two drivers with the best cars crack quite often and make pretty stupid mistakes (Lewis during the last 2 GPs of 07 and yesterday and Felipe at the start of Aussie 08 and Malaysia). Rather than a Ferrari fans vs. mcLaren fans, this is a problem both teams are paying a high price for since BMW is leading both thanks to their drivers inability to control their furor or excitement on a regular basis. One or two big mistakes a season are expected by every driver, two mistakes in a handful of GPs are a sign of emotional immaturity.

Kimi did one mistake, Massa two, Lewis 3 over the last 5 GPs........as I mentioned, 1 or 2 major errors per season are the norm for EVERY driver.......I didn't leave Kimi out, he screwed Monaco last year all by himself in quali. He just seems to be making less than half the mistakes of the other two, who have been way too emotional.

Sometimes the best combination for winning the WCC isn't always the best for WDC. Last year Hamilton and Alonso split their points evenly, and if that hadn't been the case one of them would likely have been the champ. My early read when HK moved to McLaren was Hamilton would have a clear shot at the title. Williams has had this situation historically several times as well, while the old Brabham team and of course Ferrari worked it to perfection to get WDC

No, just help him mature and understand when to pick a fight. Proving a point when you don't need to is a sign of emotional immaturity and both Lewis and Massa are still emotionally immature. They showed it abundantly over the past 6 months.

Not really. The problem with Heikki and Lewis is NOT talent, but lack of experience. Bourdais, Rosberg, Vettel are not the solution in this area. Massa had a 3 year contract with Ferrari, so I don't see why you count him. Button and Webber yes, would have been better choices, specially Button. It would have made it also enourmously entertaining to watch the british press go nuts once the two would start get head to head and there is no Spanish or German driver to hate.........

Originally posted by Ricardo F1 And every one would be a step down - IF they were available.

ricardo you seem to confuse speed with experience. McLaren already had Lewis, so having another fast driver was not as important than having one with experience. Now, i don;t know what is contractual status was, probably unavailable, but Button would have been a 10 times better option in theory. Not a step down at all, since to help the engineer develop the car they need experienced feedback more than raw speed.

Not that I expect someone with a signature like yours to get it.......Kimi Raikonnen WDC 2007 ; McLaren WCC 2007* *(on track)

ricardo you seem to confuse speed with experience. McLaren already had Lewis, so having another fast driver was not as important than having one with experience.

At which point you're talking out of your ass because you have no idea whether McLaren feel that way. Clearly they didn't otherwise they wouldn't have hired Heikki - and they have a bloke called Pedro De La Rosa testing for them who has quite a bit of experience last time I checked.

Originally posted by Most Fastest Not that I expect someone with a signature like yours to get it.......Kimi Raikonnen WDC 2007 ; McLaren WCC 2007* *(on track)

You mean the MP 2007 won on track last year???

Put the points together for McLaren cars WHERE THEY FINISHED ON TRACK and they won the WCC. The only controversial part of that is counting Hungary - which personally I do, because they raced and finished in points positions.